By Mr Healy The Fall of Rome in Broad Strokes The Roman Empire had become to large to manage Soon it split into small independently controlled states After the fall of Rome Europe fell into the Dark Ages ID: 444661
Download Presentation The PPT/PDF document "Medieval Theatre to Renaissance Theater" is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1
Medieval Theatre to Renaissance Theater
By Mr. HealySlide2
The Fall of Rome in Broad Strokes…
The Roman Empire had become to large to manage
Soon it split into small independently controlled statesSlide3
After the fall of Rome
Europe fell into the Dark Ages
These were characterized by a shrinking population,
deurbanization
, and an increase in the authority of the Holy Roman ChurchSlide4
Question
What affect do you think an increase in the power of the Catholic Church had?Slide5
Theater in the Middle Ages
The Church labeled our Greek and Roman originators Pagan, and therefore performances of this type were banned
They were instead replaced by Religious Ceremonies
In this way they were not so different from the GreeksSlide6
Move towards Morality
Liturgical Drama: A dramatic form that celebrates morality and the Christian Religion
Subjects were taken from the Bible and lives of the SaintsSlide7
Mystery Play
A type of liturgical drama
Subject focused on some Miracle or mystery from the Bible
The scenes were not interconnected like our plays today
Instead the only unifying theme was that they were about Christian faithSlide8
Mystery Plays
Mechanical devices, trapdoors, and other artifices were employed to portray flying angels, fire-spouting monsters, miraculous transformations, and graphic martyrdoms.Slide9
Mystery Plays
Plots
included: Creation
, Adam and Eve, the murder of Abel, and the Last Judgment.
Plays were organized into
Cycles
Cycles:
groups of 25 to 50 plays that took days to performs
In France a single play,
The Acts of the Apostles
by
Arnoul
and Simon
Gréban
, contained 494 speaking parts and 61,908 lines of rhymed verse; it took 40 days to performSlide10
Mystery Plays
Eventually these plays
took on sacrilegious elements
Furthermore, satirical elements were introduced to mock physicians, soldiers, judges, and even monks and priests
Pope
Innocent III
banned
them
Because
, you know, Popes didn’t like
fun
Renaissance scholars found little of interest in their great rambling texts,Slide11
Bonus Word
Satire:
the
use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.Slide12
Morality Plays
Plays were forced out of the Church and into the hands of guilds, or organized groups of artists
Allegorical play in which the protagonist is met by personifications of various moral attributes who try to prompt him to choose a Godly life over one of evil.
Allegory:
a
story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.Slide13
Everyman
The most famous Morality Play
God Sentences Everyman to die
He tries to find friends to help him show God he deserves life in heaven
Most of his “friends” abandon
him (Pride, Beauty, Five Wits, Strength and
Discretion)Slide14
Good Deeds
Good Deeds is the only one who does not abandon Everyman, and goes with him to reckon with God
What do you think the Moral of this story is?Slide15
English Renaissance Theater
At this time, England had broken away from the Catholic Church
The Renaissance has lead to a rediscovery of Classical texts and ideas
Theater emerges as a prime source of entertainment in England for both commoners and Nobles alikeSlide16
Transition to Secular Theater
Secular
: denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis
.
With the break from the Church, Nobles began funding theater
In the sixteenth century, the Elizabethan stage became almost wholly professional and
public
Side note:
Elizabethan is named after Queen Elizabeth of England
This means actors were now paid, and the shows were available to everyoneSlide17
MONEY $$$$$
The new theater groups devoted their entire
lives
to the art and craft of play producing.
Likewise
, the production of plays at this time was a good financial venture.Slide18
Patronage
Groups swore
patronage
, or loyalty to, a particular noble who financed them
This protected them from harsh anti theater laws which saw traveling theater troupes as vagabonds
As you can see, theater was still not universally respected as an artSlide19
Construction of Theaters
Successful acting companies eventually built their own performance venues
Theaters sprung up in London
Soon, However, theaters drew the ire of the law and were forced out of the city limits
Still, theater was fashionable and profitableSlide20
Acting
Acting Performances were “over the top”
The actors expressed themselves in a highly operatic manner with flamboyant
expressions Slide21
The Shows Themselves
Plays did not attempt to persuade anyone that they were not in a theater
Very little scenery to add to illusion
Only male actors played the parts
Actors would break fourth wall and speak to audience
Costumes were huge and colorful
They were also not historically accurate
For example, in Shakespeare’s plays about Roman subjects, actors did not wear togasSlide22
Video about theatre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_cTCdkCAccSlide23
Shakespeare (1564-1616)
He
was actor, writer, and part-owner of a playing company called the
Lord Chamberlain's
Men, later The King’s Men
He never published his own work. His work was compiled by his friends and published in the
First Folio.
Contemporary, Ben Johnson, famously
said Shakespeare was
“not of an age, but for all
time”Slide24
Shakespeare
Shakespeare: wrote 38
plays in 3 genres
Tragedies
Comedies
History Plays
Plays were performed at
The Globe,
which burned down from a cannon fired during a production of
Henry VIIISlide25
History Plays
These plays dramatized figures from Medieval English History
However, They were really about the politics and social situations of his own society
Audiences recognized and enjoyed this factSlide26
Mini Biography
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geev441vbMISlide27
5 interesting facts about Shakespeare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDRpEb7heG8Slide28
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
Came just before Shakespeare but yet less famous in history
Still very important in the study of Renaissance drama
He was one of the first people to write for a living
He created scathing social and political commentary that was often sensational and violent
He Died in a Bar FightSlide29
Marlowe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CbWeIkgF-gSlide30
Dr. Faustus (1592)
Faustus has learned all earthly knowledge and now desires to know MAGIC
He summons the devil, Mephistopheles, who is Lucifer’s servant
Faustus sells his soul to Lucifer for 24 years with
Meph
as his servant
What do you all think happens next?Slide31
Dr. Faustus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZeFGKA2MqQSlide32
Quotes
For, falling to a devilish exercise,
And glutted now with learning's golden gifts,
He surfeits upon cursed necromancy.
Nothing so sweet as magic is to him,
Which he prefers before his
chiefest
bliss.Slide33
Quotes
FAUSTUS
Was not that Lucifer an angel once?
MEPHISTOPHELES
Yes Faustus, and most dearly loved of God.
FAUSTUS
How comes it, then, that he is prince of devils?
MEPHISTOPHELES
O, by aspiring pride and insolence,
For which God threw him from the face of heaven. (1.3.61-66)Slide34
Questions
What was the central conflict of Dr. Faustus?
Would you make the same deal as
Dr.Faustus
?
Is this a Christian Tragedy? Does it’s ending fit with Christian Ideals?Slide35
Questions?
Is Dr. Faustus “a
Renaissance man who had to pay the medieval price for being
one” like scholar R.M Dawkins said?
Think about what I have been saying about the Renaissance and people’s thirst for knowledge at that timeSlide36
Dr. Faustus
At the time Marlowe was writing, John
Calvin had developed a theory about human salvation called
Predestination
.
This
theory said that each human being was fated from the beginning of his or her life to be damned or saved. It raised questions about exactly how much control a person had over his or her own salvation.Slide37
Dr. Faustus
Doctor Faustus stood out from the crowd by combining things we associate with medieval drama (like allegory) to explore what we now think of as modern questions: What form should knowledge take? What is the nature of true power? Should we believe in fate or free will
?
Wasn’t a straight forward morality playSlide38
Elizabethan Theatre wrap up
In 1642, with England on the verge of a civil war, the Puritan Parliament closed all theaters
Stage plays were forbidden because they distracted the nation from its efforts to
“appease and avert the wrath of
God”
Theaters were not reopened for almost 20 years in 1660Slide39
During the Restoration
Set designers added
Scenery
to add the illusion of depth on the stage
Others experimented with lighting using chandeliers and candles around the stage
The lightheartedness of the plays reflected a society recovering from years of division and unrestSlide40
Restoration Comedies
Restoration comedies involved quick wit
Playwrights
wrote Comedies of Manners, which satirized the behaviors of society before and during the restoration period. Comedic plays relied on situational humor: disguises, mistaken identity, and
misunderstandingsSlide41
Restoration Comedy
Most popular type of play
Restoration
comedies became social commentaries; they were not a mirror of society, but rather exaggerations of society that the audience would recognize and appreciate
.
in Restoration plays, women
sometimes played
the role of men as a form of situation comedy.
1
st
appearance of women!Slide42
Focus on the Upper Class
Audiences were mainly upper class
Therefore plays often had Upper Class nobles and their courts as the focusSlide43
Focus on Love and sex
Situational humor often involved sexual themes such as adulterous husbands and flirtatious women
Sexual innuendo or jokes were big (That’s what she said)Slide44
Stock characters
Plays included stock characters
Stock Character
: a fictional character based on a common
stereotype
. Stock characters rely heavily on cultural types or names for their personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics.Slide45
Stock Characters
Rake:
a
historic term applied to a man who is habituated to immoral conduct, particularly
womanising
. Often a rake was also prodigal who wasted his (usually inherited) fortune on gambling, wine, women and song, incurring lavish debts in the process. Comparable terms are "libertine" and "debauchee".Slide46
The Fop
He is a "man of fashion" who overdresses, aspires to wit, and generally puts on airs, which may include aspiring to a higher social station than others think he has. He may be somewhat effeminate, although this rarely affects his pursuit of an heiress.Slide47Slide48
Top 10 job skills
http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2012/12/10/the-10-skills-that-will-get-you-a-job-in-2013/Slide49